Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
What Is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is referred to as the body of technologies and practices used to protect networks, data, and programs from attacks or unauthorized access. As the world is slowly becoming utterly dependent on technology, cybersecurity is required to safeguard all the information that travels through the internet.
For instance, the digital economy accounted for 6.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, or $1.35 trillion, in 2017, according to statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The government, military, and other organizations collect data from us, which might have sensitive information that can negatively empower unauthorized access. Unauthorized access to any device can use all your company’s sensitive data and business, and can also cause serious devastation.
Cybersecurity is, therefore, essential to protect all the sensitive data of your company or a business.
Cybercrime has increased nowadays, as many people do not have a secure network connection, making it easily accessible by cyber attackers. The World Economic Forum reports that in 2019, four new malware samples were created every second.
This lack of a secure network has given cybercriminals the undue advantage to attack a company’s employees and get access to the company’s database.
The same way the Covid-19 pandemic largely increased the number of people working from home, it also increased concerns about the cybersecurity fallouts for employees working from home.
Working from home has more risk of cyberattacks due to less security in an employee’s home network connection. Due to the novel nature of coronavirus, malicious developers capitalized on the term to make new scams and links to attack people without cybersecurity.
The increased number of employees working from home outside the secured corporate network has created a mammoth opportunity for cybercriminals. It helps cybercriminals to get all the necessary information they need to launch an attack on companies without much trouble.
It is encouraging that some companies have started providing a secure network connection and infrastructure to their employees working from home. But, there are still many small companies and businesses that do not have measures in place to protect their employees from cyber attackers.
This makes the business or the organization vulnerable to hackers or cyber attackers who can easily access the employees’ network and access the company’s database.
Here are some practices you can adopt to protect yourself from being attacked.
1. Securing your devices
Protect all your devices with strong passwords or pin and ensure that they are running on the latest software. You should always enable firewalls and use antivirus on your devices to keep them protected.
If you have two computers and both share networks, make sure they have separate accounts, and both are saved. Before disposing of any device, make sure it has been wiped/ factory reset.
2. Change your home router’s default settings
Working from home means all your internet traffic goes through your home router. In order to log in to 192.168.0.20 IP use the given link. Cyber attackers might attempt to hack your network, which ultimately gives them access to your network.
If you haven’t secured your network connection yet, this is the right time to do it before it is compromised. You should change your SSID (the name of your network) and your password, as the attackers can easily search for the default password of your router from the internet.
You should always use a strong and unique password for your network to make it more secure.
3. Use virtual private networks (VPNs)
You should use a VPN to remotely access the company’s intranet network while communicating over a public network. Using a VPN creates a private network between the two connections, making it difficult for hackers or cyber-criminals to access the network.
With a VPN, the small data packets that make up the communication can be kept away, only allowing decryption at the tunnel ends, i.e., your employees’ devices and your corporate network.
4. Use two-factor authentication to protect your remote access
Employees who use remote access technologies are quite open to attacks due to a lack of security. Cyber attackers can access these remote access technologies simply with social engineering or by brute-force.
To secure this, you can use two-factor authentication, which makes remote access secure. The security from a two-factor authentication requires an employee to enter a one-time code and the corporate username and password.
5. Covid-19 related scams
You should be aware of Covid-19 scams. You must only use government approved sites to find out details about the coronavirus.
Many sites are based on the coronavirus or coronavirus-themed scams, which can use phishing techniques to trick you into sharing your personal information such as your bank details. You should not trust any social media, emails, or links that come to you from unknown sources.
These are some tips you can follow to prevent yourself from being attacked by cyber attackers or hackers. These will also help you keep your data, even your company’s database, from being compromised.
